


A Family's Bond

by Kayterdid



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Big brother Alistair, Cinderella Elements, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 01:19:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14148786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayterdid/pseuds/Kayterdid
Summary: Moira was abandoned as a baby.  King Alistair finds evidence of Moira's existence and decides to see the young woman for himself.





	A Family's Bond

 

 

In Royal Regard to Alistair Theirin Descendant of Calenhad the Great, Grey Warden, and King of Ferelden:

_King Alistair,_

_Since we last met, I have looked into the missives I found buried at Vigil's Keep. We can only assume Rendon kept this girl a secret to politically advance himself and his family. This is merely speculation of course, as Nathaniel denies any knowledge of the girl._

_Alistair, I know where she is, and I can have her tracked down. I must confess, however, I wish you would forget you'd ever seen the letters. There's no way of knowing how real these claims are. For all we know the letters themselves could be a complete charade. The fact that Eamon knows nothing of this. It simply makes no sense for him to have separated you and this supposed 'sister'. I don't even like writing the word, Alistair. This is a mistake._

_As I've said, the choice is yours. This girl is supposedly in West Hill. I'd rather be with you if you want to go off looking for her. Send word and I will meet you in Highever. Fergus will want to see us in any case._

_A. Cousland_

* * *

_Aeden,_

_For the love of the Maker please stop addressing me as King Alistair! I know you're concerned about my man feelings, but I really am just curious. It seems funny to me that Howe would write these correspondences and hide them away. This Lady Anne will at the very least need to be questioned for her connections with Rendon._

_If the girl really is the baby that Goldanna was talking about, then that means I wasn't the baby. If that makes sense. That would mean I still have a different family out there somewhere. Maybe my mother is out there._

_Anyway, I know how you felt about Goldanna, but this won't be like that._

_You are a good friend, a brother.  It will be good to see you._

 

_Alistair_

* * *

 

"What are you doing you, foolish girl?!"

Moira crashed into Lady Anne and stammered to apologize but Anne would have none of it.

"Camille has been waiting for her bath since sunrise, and here you are dallying!" Anne yelled.

Moira explained, "I'm sorry m'lady, I've been trying to get the butter and honey out of her gown from last-"

"That's enough! Nothing but excuses, excuses, excuses from you! I'm telling you it's no wonder your parents left you at my door. It was gracious of me to take you in. The thanks I get is you treating my only daughter like some sort of a pauper from the streets? She's practically treated you like a sister."

"Yes. I'm sorry m'lady."

"Well for heaven’s sake, get it done girl!"  Lady Anne’s mouth twisted into a puckering frown that may have looked comical if Moira didn’t know any better.  That was always the look she’d get before a beating.

Moira ran the dress back to Camille's room and hurried to the pot of boiling water dangling over the fireplace. Her first instinct was to grab at the pot to get it as quickly as possible.

"Maker!" she yelped. She clasped her burnt hand trying to soothe it as she hissed in pain.

"Moira!" Camille yelled from down the hall.

"Coming! Coming!"

Moira picked up the pot with a hooked rod near the fireplace this time and made her way to the very late bath.

"Hair!" Camille commanded handing Moira the brush as she herself soaked in a warm luxurious bath.

"Yes ma'am"

Camille seemed to be rather giddy this morning, and even started an unusually pleasant conversation with Moira. "Oh, you should have seen me last night. I have never danced so much in my life! I do believe the handsome man who was eyeing me was an Arl's son, I'm not sure who he is, but Patsy says he will be there again this evening! Not that anything like that would matter to you. Ha! I'll need the gold dress tonight. Gold looks very regal you know."

Camille kept talking and giggling to Moira, and though Moira tried to listen she found herself daydreaming. She wondered what she would look like in Camille's dress. Maybe not the gold one. Her hair was gold after all and Moira thought that may be too much of one color. Not a pink one either. Camille insisted that Moira didn't look pretty in pink. Though now that she thought about it, Camille had said there were several things that made Moira look ugly.

"Ouch! Ow! What are you doing?"  Camille barked and shot upright in the bath.

Moira's head snapped down to the clump of hair she'd been brushing. A ball of raven hair was in the comb pulled apart from a conspicuously short strand of hair shooting from Camille’s head.

Moira pulled the wet hair from the comb which came out like tall grass from a shallow pond.

Moira knew something like this would get her whipped. Luckily Camille was still feeling around her head and whining. Moira had just enough time to scrape the hair from her hand and onto the underneath of her skirt.

"I'm sorry if it hurt, Camille. There was just a tangle, but I think I fixed it."

Moira watched Camille’s face closely. She held her breath waiting to see if her lie had worked. Camille wrinkled her nose and huffed at her.

"Next time, be more gentle!"

"Of course, Camille. I'm sorry."

* * *

 

In all the time Moira had lived in West Hill, she had never seen so many nobles. They were there, of course, to see the King and Hero of Ferelden. She'd heard that the two fought side by side at the battle in Denerim. Two brave heroes fighting. One a dashing noble and the other secretly a prince. The story seemed so romantic and heroic. Though she was sure the battle wasn't really anything like that. In real life, things aren't as pretty as Camille’s dresses and dances.

The bakery smelled wonderful and Moira's tummy growled as soon as she walked in. Thomas, the baker, was the closest thing to father Moira had ever known. Lady Anne frequently let Moira know that the truth of the matter was that her real parents wanted nothing to do with her. That her father must have been a drunkard, and mother just a common whore.  She heard it every day. Typically when you hear something every day, you get used to the sound. But Lady Anne knew how to keep old wounds from healing.

"Good morning Thomas," Moira said. She gave a wide smile at the sight of her friend.

"Mornin' to you Miss Moira. Will it be the sweet rolls this morning?"

"Oh no! Camille says sweet rolls will make her bloat and she'll have to have apple cakes instead," Moira said trying to stifle back a laugh.

Thomas laughed too. "Well, we'd hate for her to be bloated on this most eventful day. Though, I think apple cakes won't be much better for her than the sweet rolls."

Moira giggled and handed Thomas his payment, but snapped her head to noises from outside the shop.

Laughter boomed from outside from a group of young ladies surrounding a nobleman. Moira locked eyes with him and he responded with a flirtatious grin. She quickly looked away and turned scarlet.

"Looks like you already have a potential dance partner," Thomas said and chuckled.

Moira shook her head and replied, "Lady Anne would never let me go."

"Surely she'll let you go see the King. You're young! What are dances for if not the young?"

"I suppose I could ask her." Moira thought out loud.

Thomas wrapped up the apple cakes and gave them to Moira then took her hand to pat it.

"Do ask her Miss Moira. If you don't get to livin', you'll look back and wonder why you didn't have adventures when you were young."

Moira smiled and agreed, "I will. I'll ask her!"

With a lighter step, Moira strolled back to Lady Anne's estate. She daydreamed of what she might see at the ball and imagined what she might wear. Then she felt her arm pinched in a tight grasp that whipped her around so fast the apple cakes almost fell out of her hands.

"What are you doing in town?"

"Lady Anne! I always get your breakfast from Thomas the morning of a ball."

"You haven't seen the King have you?" Lady Anne asked and looked all around as if she were a sneaking child.

"No m'lady. I'm sure he would have been attended with a Royal Guard. Isn't that what kings do?" Moira asked sincerely, she hadn't met a king before.

"This king isn't very kingly." Lady Anne replied rolling her eyes. Moira was grateful that Lady Anne was angry at someone else for a change.

Anne hurried Moira back to the estate. There wasn't a king in sight.

* * *

 

"Tighter, tighter, tighter!" Camille gasped.

Moira and Lady Anne both pulled as tightly as they could at the corset strings. Camille grasped onto the frame of the kitchen doorway so that she didn't lose her footing. When Camille finally deemed it tight enough her mother grabbed the strings from Moira and tied them tightly.

All three women fell to the floor in exhaustion. Camille was swallowed in the golden gown woven in glittering sashes and bows so that when she sat all you could see was the top of her head and the short piece of ebony hair sticking straight up.

Lady Anne groaned and proclaimed, "No more sweet rolls for a while Cam. You'll not be able to fit in the next gown."

"Mother!" Camille screamed, feelings hurt.

With all of the housework finished and the ladies of the house clothed for the ball, Moira knew there would be no better time to ask Lady Anne.

"M'lady? I mean-Lady Anne? I was wondering if I could come tonight. To the dance I mean. Could I maybe come along?"

Camille gave Moira an incredulous look, " _You_ ? Go to the _ball_?" Camille laughed and laughed. "How ridiculous. What would you even wear? That sack?"

"Now, now Camille", Lady Anne said, "If Moira wants to go to the ball she should get to go."

"Mother!" Camille whined.

Moira was stunned. She could feel the butterflies wiggle from her bellybutton to the top of her throat and she couldn't hide her smile.

"Oh thank you! Thank you, Lady Anne." Moira gushed.

"I have some extra dresses in the basement. Why don't you go down and take a look at what you like?"

"You'd let me borrow a dress?"

"Well of course, what else are you supposed to wear? Now come. The trunk of dresses is in the basement."

Lady Anne smiled leading Moira to the steps. Moira took a candle creeping down and looked into the dimly lit room. She strained her eyes looking for the trunk when she heard a WHACK!

Anne had slammed the door behind Moira and locked her in. Moira dropped the candle which extinguished on its way to the ground. She ran to the door crying.

"Wait! Please don't leave me here. I won't go, but please don't leave me in the dark."

"Now listen very carefully." Lady Anne boomed sounding dangerous, "Tonight you will spend the night in here. No matter what you hear, no matter how scared you are, you won't make a sound. If you do, you will regret it and that is a promise. Sleep down here without a word. Tomorrow you will continue with life as usual. And you will never ask me to go to a ball again. Do you understand?"

Moira's heart pained and when she opened her mouth she had trouble sucking in air as if a wet cloth was stuffed down her windpipe.

"Yes ma'am," she said and hung her head low in defeat.

* * *

 

Moira wept in the dark basement.

She felt foolish.

She felt alone 

Her mother and father left her to this woman who also didn't want her.

A fool.

Her chest burned and twisted from the thought.

Silly girl.

Salty tears streamed down her face.

She cried until she slept.

Sleep was only interrupted by noise from the upstairs.

They were home!

She hurried up to the door hoping she could beg Lady Anne to at least give her a new candle. She'd take the whippin' if it meant not having to stay in the pitch black.

That's when Moira heard the voice of a man.

"It has been kind of you to take care of her after all of these years. You are a generous woman."

 _Me?_ Moira thought. They had to have been talking about her.

Then she heard Lady Anne say, "Well what was I supposed to do my King? I couldn't just leave her out in the cold."

"Of course you are also welcome to live in the castle Lady Anne. You must be like a mother to Moira."

"You are too kind Your Majesty."

Then she heard Camille's shrill voice, "And it means I am a princess? A real princess?"

The King laughed, "Yes I suppose so."

_A princess? What is happening?_

She heard another man's voice say, "Miss Moira, I promise there is more to being a princess than meets the eye. I'm sure you are eager to get to know the king as he is you."

_Moira? You mean Camille!_

Moira kept listening intently. Maybe they would let her out. Maybe she would go with them.

She could hear a knock on the front door.

"Lady Anne, I just-Oh! Your Majesty!" She heard Thomas speaking.

Lady Anne spoke up, "Thomas as you can see, we are busy at the moment."

"Yes of course, I just wanted to check on Miss Moira. I didn't see her at the ball and I just wanted to see her."

The third man said, "Ah, but now I thought this young lady was Moira."

Moira felt heat rise in her chest and her heart pounded. Camille was pretending to be her?! What did Camille know about working from the sunrise to the sunset? What did Camille know about being abandoned by family? Moira remembered years of beatings and emotional abuse and her anger boiled. She took her fists and with all her might pounded on the solid wood door screaming.

The door flew open!

She fell out and into the hands of a dark haired, handsome man, his eyes as wide as they could get. The man helped her up, but his face was still in shock as he stared at her.

Moira turned away to face Camille but instead locked eyes with the King himself. Her heart stopped.

He looked just like her. The shape of his face, the color of his hair, the way his eyes folded.

Understanding flooded her. _He's looking for me! He wants to see me because I'm his-his family._

She ran toward him indignantly and without fear of consequence and wrapped her arms around him.

Moira buried her face in his chest and let herself cry the happiest tears. He did the same.

* * *

 

_Alistair,_

 

_I must admit, I was wrong._

_When I saw the black haired girl, I knew there was no way she was your sister. If Lady Anne had known any better she would have remembered trying to bring the girl, Camille, to Highever only a few years back._

_But when I opened that door, and Moira came out, there was no denying she was your kin._

_It's my favorite story to tell now! I can't imagine seeing any two people look more alike. She has blue eyes though, and let's face it, Alistair, she looks better in a dress than you do._

_As for Lady Anne, my scouts still can't find her. If she's smart she'll never step foot in Ferelden again._

_I'm going to be spending some time in Highever before returning to Amaranthine. I would love for you and Moira to come over for a celebration feast. It won't be as fancy as yours mind you, but it will certainly be more fun!_

_While I'm happy for you, I remember what you said in the last letter you wrote me. If Moira is Goldanna's sister, then it is likely you are not Goldanna's brother. You may have more family out there. Brothers, sisters, a mother? We will find out._

_But for now, enjoy the family you have. Moira is a sweet young woman. And, as always, I am ever your brother in arms._

 

_With love,_

_Aeden_

* * *

 

_Aeden,_

 

_Lady Anne had better never set foot in Ferelden again. I've never been able to be a protective older brother before, and I have a feeling she would incur all of my wrath!_

_As for there being more of my family, we will find out, but you, brother, will always be family._

_Thank you for your help. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't get to see Moira's face light up when she tries on dresses, sees the dining hall, and tries to ride on our horses. You've given me a family._

_I can never thank you enough._

_We will visit in Highever in a few weeks time. Until then, stay safe!_

_Oh yeah! You'll never guess what Moira's favorite food is!_

 

_Alistair_

 


End file.
